Journals
2026 EN
Kurapov Anton · Vlasenko Inna · Hettegger Sabrina E.
+3 more
Background: The dissociative subtype of posttraumatic stress disorder (D-PTSD) was introduced in the DSM-5 to identify individuals with PTSD who experience dissociative symptoms, such as derealization and depersonalization. The Dissociative Subtype of PTSD Scale (DSPS) was developed to assess these symptoms but has yet to be validated in Ukrainian, a necessity due to the psychological impact of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Objective: This study aimed to develop and validate the Ukrainian version of the DSPS, examining its psychometric properties in a sample of trauma-exposed Ukrainian individuals. Methods: 1,119 Ukrainian participants, recruited using convenience and snowball sampling, took part in an online study assessing dissociative symptoms with the DSPS as well as symptoms of PTSD, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, somatic symptom disorder, and fear of sleep with established questionnaires. DSPS factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent and discriminant validity were assessed. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the three-factor structure of the DSPS (derealization/depersonalization, loss of awareness, and psychogenic amnesia) with acceptable model fit indices for both lifetime and current severity items. Internal consistency was high for lifetime and current total scales (Cronbach’s alpha = 0 .83-0.87). Significant correlations with PTSD, depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms were in the expected size-ranges, supporting convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusions: The Ukrainian DSPS demonstrated robust psychometric properties, validating its use as a reliable and valid tool for assessing dissociative symptoms in individuals exposed to war-related trauma. Its adaptation fills a critical gap in the diagnostic landscape, enabling timely intervention for trauma-exposed populations in Ukraine.
Journals
2026 EN
Ahmadi Sayed Jafar · Musavi Zeinab · Farhat Mohammad Wali
+6 more
Background: Afghan adolescents have been exposed to decades of war, displacement, and limited access to mental health care. Memory Training for Recovery–Adolescent Plus (METRA+) was developed to address posttraumatic stress (PTSD), depression, and social functioning through a brief, culturally adapted, and scalable approach. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of METRA + among Afghan refugee adolescents in Pakistan. Methods: A single-arm mixed-methods design was used, with 41 Afghan adolescents (27 girls, 14 boys; mean age = 15 .4 years) completing a 13-session METRA + programme integrating compassionate communication, memory specificity, and written exposure. Quantitative measures assessed PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, anxiety, and social functioning, administered at baseline, after each module, and at two-month follow-up. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Post-intervention focus groups explored participants’ experiences and emotional changes, with thematic analysis conducted using MAXQDA 2024, following Braun and Clarke’s ( 2006 ) framework. Results: Significant reductions were observed in symptoms of PTSD, p < .001, partial η ² = .34, depression, p = .001, partial η ² = .16, and anxiety, p = .004, partial η ² = .13, with significant reductions in anxiety observed at follow-up but not immediately post-intervention, and all reductions maintained at follow-up. Improvements in social and communication skills were non-significant, but qualitative analyses indicated that METRA + enhanced emotion regulation, self-efficacy, empathy, academic motivation, and the normalization of traumatic memories. Participants and facilitators reported high satisfaction and strong cultural relevance of the programme. Conclusions: METRA + appears feasible, acceptable, and has potential efficacy for improving mental health and psychosocial outcomes among Afghan refugee adolescents. Findings highlight the promise of memory-focused and compassion-based interventions for youth in humanitarian and low-resource settings. Larger randomized controlled trials are warranted. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry identifier: ACTRN12624001453572. .
Journals
2026 EN
Virginás Andrea
The aim of the article is to characterize an emerging type of cultural memory-work with reference to Eastern European collective traumas and various media platforms. Through an analysis of the introductory parts and the credit sequences of 2019 Chernobyl , 2022 The Informant , and 2023 Spy/Master it is demonstrated that historical Cold War era television – as institution and objects, but also as an electronic medium – is remediated in these (paratextual) segments for the digital era, while making use of ‘cool medium’ characteristics (McLuhan 1964), or of the four ‘televisual modes’ (Caldwell 1993 ). The HBO-type ‘aestheticization’ (Caldwell) of Cold War era, collectively traumatic experiences in the three segments exposes the addressees of these messages: those who do not have a personal memory of that period, having been born after the 1989–1990 regime changes, or the ‘forgetters’ and/or ‘mourners’ in the Assmannian model of the three communicative generations (2011, 2012). The comparative analysis allows for the suggestion that Chernobyl may be considered a ‘benchmark hit[s] in a genre [that] serve[s] as [a] prototype’ (Grindon), preformatting the field of non-autobiographical, second or third generation(al), transnational, and ‘televisual’ remembrance of Cold War era traumatization – as indexed by secret service characters.
Journals
2026 EN
Varga Balázs
This article examines how HBO’s recent East-Central European (ECE) series reinterpret the history of regime change within contemporary post-Cold War screen culture. Focusing on The Sleepers (2019) from Czechia, The Informant (2022) from Hungary, and Spy/Master (2023) from Romania, it explores how these espionage thrillers, set in the late socialist era, reposition the region’s geopolitical significance. Unlike traditional Cold War narratives centred on US-Soviet confrontations, these series shift the focus to Prague, Budapest, and Bucharest, offering a nuanced portrayal of ECE’s role during this period. The analysis highlights the rise of genre experimentation in ECE cinema, particularly in crime and espionage, which reflects broader international trends in television and streaming. These genres allow for a complex engagement with the memory of socialism, moving beyond nostalgia to address themes of loyalty, identity, and trust. By focusing on ambivalent heroes and mixed loyalties, these series challenge traditional narratives, offering a more nuanced account of the socialist past and contributing to a reimagined cultural identity for the region.
Journals
2026 EN
Kobeissi Hussein · Redden Guy
Since the early 2000s the U.S. late-night talk show (LNTS) genre has become politicised. Comedy Central’s The Daily Show (1999-present) forged a new path of partisan news review and political satire. This study asks how the tendentious comedy and critique developed on TDS amidst the divisive politics of the War on Terror became reconfigured after 2015 through the political rise of Donald Trump. The apparent absurdity of Trump and his views facilitated heavy hitting mockery and commentary calling out the supposed machinations of right-wing politics. However, Trump also became a problem of representation. Tied in with populism and the rise of fake news, Trumpism fed its own partisan mediasphere, which amplified Trump’s unprecedented lying and stoking of division. In this context, late-night hosts began to make sense of Trump via the frame of ‘threat’, not just to progressive values, but to U.S. democracy itself, leading to the adoption of non-comedic discursive strategies to respond to the dangers of Trumpism while their satire reached its limits. Although the political effects of these LNTS counter-discourses remain unclear, we conclude that popular media genres are key sites through which shifts in democratic politics and its mediation play out in the contemporary US.
Journals
2026 EN
Lorenz Fredrick Walter
This article examines the importance of “sacred bread” ( nan-ı aziz ) in the context of migration and settlement in the mid nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire. It considers the aftermath of the Crimean War of 1853–1856 during which Crimean Tatars, Noghays, and refugees from other territories sought sanctuary within Ottoman lands. In this context, state welfare, refugee identity, and new conceptions of political authority began to evolve around the exchange of sacred bread. The symbolic and material significance of sacred bread transformed groups of incoming Muslims into a special class of Ottoman refugees throughout the 1850s and 1860s. This study argues that the symbolic and material currency of food or, more specifically, sacred bread constituted a way to acculturate the Crimean and Caucasian refugee community ( muhacirin ) in the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman food traditions such as sacred bread not only generated a Muslim refugee cultural identity, but also collectively united Muslim refugee communities on the basis of class and social identity. More importantly, bread played a significant role in transforming and acculturating refugee communities within Ottoman culture and served as a vector of cultural cohesion by forging a unified community. By examining refugee petitions and imperial correspondence, this article explores the centrality of sacred bread in Ottoman food systems and expands our conception of the postwar experiences of refugees by introducing bread as a novel way to analyze identity, subjecthood, and loyalty.
Resource
2026 EN
Nahle Mustapha · Nunez Miguel · Msheik Mayyas
The Beirut pager explosions on September 17, 2024 resulted in mass casualties with severe upper limb trauma admitted to Rafik Hariri University Hospital (RHUH), Lebanon’s national war trauma referral center. Initial opioid-based anesthesia was associated with postoperative respiratory complications and high opioid requirements. Ketamine became available the following day through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This study evaluates the transition to ketamine as a primary anesthetic and its effects on pain control, hemodynamics, respiration, and opioid use. We retrospectively reviewed 100 hand and finger amputation surgeries. Patients initially received fentanyl intraoperatively and opioids postoperatively. Ketamine was subsequently introduced as the primary anesthetic. Pain was assessed using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), while respiratory and hemodynamic parameters were monitored perioperatively. Ketamine was associated with significantly lower VAS scores (3.2 vs 7.8; p < 0.001), no respiratory complications (0 vs 18 cases), stable mean arterial pressure in 94% of patients, and reduced postoperative opioid use (5% vs 65%). Ketamine is a safe, effective, opioid-sparing anesthetic and should be prioritized in conflict and resource-limited trauma settings.
Journals
2026 EN
Bishop Wesley R.
This essay examines the history, controversy, and eventual removal of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Indianapolis. Originally erected in 1912 at Greenlawn Cemetery to mark the graves of over 1,600 Confederate prisoners of war who died at Camp Morton, the monument was relocated in 1928 to Garfield Park—a shift that transformed it from a funerary marker to a piece of civic public art. After decades of neglect, it was restored in 2014 through a partnership between Indy Parks and Confederate heritage groups. In 2020, amid nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other unarmed African American civilians by American police, the city government removed the monument, acknowledging its symbolic role in upholding white supremacy. By situating this monument within broader political and cultural histories—including the role of white supremacy in both the North and South—this essay argues that public monuments must be read critically and politically. It contends that city governments are not neutral stewards of memory, but institutions shaped by shifting political alliances, public pressure, and evolving understandings of justice. As such, public space is always a site of negotiation, contestation, and revision.
Journals
2026 EN
Hudoshnyk Oksana · Krupskyi Oleksandr P.
The article presents various strategies of temporality and documentation created by Ukrainian comic books during the war. The first stage of the war (2014–2021) updated the heroic narrative of military comics – the Kiborhy series and recreated the stories of victims and eyewitnesses (the graphic novel Crossroads: nine stories about war and violence ). There was an emphasis on the destigmatisation of the tragic battle experience in war and social comics, reports and autobiographies. The intense mediatisation of the war after the full-scale invasion made it the most documented in history, with a powerful content of digital memories, life stories, testimonies of war crimes, interviews and recollections. The graphic reproduction of everyday wartime life is created in the new conditions of the chronotope – here and now – in an effort not to forget and lose, to leave a memory and a remembrance of life, deeds and death (web-magazine Inker ). Comics respond to the events of war, trying to capture a fleeting sense of presence and emotional involvement, to reproduce the ‘voices of war’ in graphic language, to visualise the real stories of the living and to immortalise the deeds of the fallen. This combination of documentation, memorialisation and memory makes the experience of Ukrainian comics during the war unique.
Journals
2026 EN
Rabah Makram
This article examines the life of Selwa “Lucky” Showker Roosevelt (1929–2023), a Lebanese Druze American who rose to prominence as Chief of Protocol under US President Ronald Reagan. Drawing on her memoirs, Keeper of the Gate , as well as exploring oral history interviews and archival materials, the article situates Roosevelt’s trajectory within broader histories of Lebanese migration, gender, and diplomacy. Born in Tennessee to Druze immigrants from Arsoun, Mount-Lebanon, Roosevelt navigated her identity across local community, elite American social networks, and transnational ties to Lebanon during the civil war (1975–90). Her story highlights the role of Arab-American women in Cold War diplomacy and offers insight into how diasporic Druze identity was maintained, negotiated, and mobilized in Washington. By tracing her ambivalent love for Lebanon alongside her service in US foreign policy, the article demonstrates the intersection of sectarian memory, diaspora politics, and American statecraft.